Winanda Himaman

Parasites that manipulate host behavior can provide prominent examples of extended phenotypes: parasite genomes controlling host behavior. Here we focus on one of the most dramatic examples of behavioral manipulation, the death grip of ants infected by Ophiocordyceps fungi. We studied the interaction between O. unilateralis s.l. and its host ant Ca...

Trails of the ant Camponotus leonardi. The video shows ants running in a trail on a branch above the forest floor in a tropical forest in Southern Thailand.

A zombie ant biting a leaf vein. An ant attached by its mandibles to the main vein of a leaf in a tropical forest in Southern Thailand. The ant remains attached until its death and does not respond to external factors such as another ant approaching as in the video.

Parasites are likely to play an important role in structuring host populations. Many adaptively manipulate host behaviour, so that the extended phenotypes of these parasites and their distributions in space and time are potentially important ecological variables. The fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, which is pan-tropical in distribution, causes...

The genus Eucalyptus is host to numerous species of Mycosphaerella, several of which are only known as anamorphs, and for which no Mycosphaerella state is known. In this study new Mycosphaerella teleomorph states are described for Nothostrasseria dendritica and Trimmatostroma excentrica. Two new hyphomycete genera are introduced. Of these, Cibiessi...

Species of Mycosphaerella and their anamorphs represent serious pathogens of two phyllodenous species of Acacia, A. mangium and A. crassicarpa. In recent years, these fungi have been collected during surveys in South America and South-East Asia, where these trees are widely planted as exotics. In this study, the Mycosphaerella spp. and their anamor...